காயத்ரி [Gayathri]

by Sujatha

எங்கும் எப்போதும் படியுங்கள், உங்கள் இலவச Kindle app இல். தினமணி கதிரில் 1970 களில் வெளியான அதிரடி தொடர் கதை. புதுமை விரும்பியான ஆசிரியர் சாவியே காயத்ரியின் கதைக் கரு, அதன் போக்கு கண்டு சற்று மிரண்டுதான் போனாராம். அந்தக் காலகட்டத்தில் இது நிச்சயம் துணிச் சலான கதைதான். பின் இது திரைப்படமாகவும் வெளியாகி வென்றது. கணேஷ், வசந்துடன் சேர்ந்து கதையாசிரியரும் இதிலொரு பாத்திரமாக இயங்குவது இந்தக் கதையின் சிறப்பம்சம்.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Thriller, Crime

77 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Sujatha was the allonym of the Tamil author S. Rangarajan, Author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular authors in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil periodicals such as Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam and Kalki. He had a wide readership, and served for a brief period as the editor of Kumudam, and has also written screenplays and dialogues for several Tamil movies.

As an engineer, he supervised the design and production of the electronic voting machine (EVM) during his tenure at Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a machine which is currently used in elections throughout India. As an author he inspired many authors, including Balakumaran, Madhan.

Reviews

[Girish]

Chilling take on "Message-in-a-bottle". Few books comes with a disclaimer to keep the book out reach of children.

The author stumbles upon the diary of Gayatri, a new bride, at Moore Market. In fact the diary starts with the day of her first night. She describes in first person the happenings in the house along with her impressions of her widowed sister-in-law living with them.

In what is brilliantly written, the suspense keeps building up and you feel for her safety without understanding what is actually happening. And then enter lawyer Ganesh and Vasanth who accompany the author to rescue her.

Also, Sujata's technique of inserting a helpless author into the thick of things was intelligent. The first part reminded me a lot of Rebecca though the context is different. Evidently the movie is different from the book and not in a good way.

A fast paced thriller.

[Sundarapandian Dhandabani]

ஒரு பெண்ணின் டைரி குறிப்புகள் வழியாக நகர்கிறது, Superb thriller. ஒரே மூச்சில் முடித்தாயிற்று. Dated 13/10/2020

[Nrithya]

Another Ganesh-Vasanth novel from Sujatha. Hats-off to the author for having written about such intriguing and bold subjects even in the conservative 1960-70s. The story is pretty simple. The narrator stumbles upon a woman's diary in a second-hand books shop in which she has written about her predicament stuck in a strange marriage and household. The narrator decides to meet and rescue her and takes the help of Ganesh-Vasanth to do so. The suspense or mystery is not great and resolves in a predictable manner but it is definitely so well-written in typical Sujatha-style.

[Kru]

A very simple storyline. The narration is different as it is a sneak peak in to the diary of the title character. From the journal entries it sounds like an impossible task, to locate this person in such a crowded place as Chennai, that too those days when smartphones didn't exist.

But then, within a few paragraphs she is located, and dare I say in a couple of pages she is saved. Did I say saved? No, considering how the author ends it. Couldn't even digest it as dark humor.

[Guna]

I didn't like this book

[Kannan Ekanath]

This is probably one of Sujatha's earliest novels on Ganesh-Vasanth (I think). Sujatha's strengths are his knowledge, style and his gripping narration. To me those are his weaknesses too. Apart from Sreerangathu Kadhaigal, Sujatha in my opinion does not spend enough time on building up the scene, characters, plot or for that matter anything. He is all about brevity perhaps because almost all of his writings were for Tamil magazine monthlies and may be we ("tamils") just don't wait enough to get the plot. Till date this is probably the only grudge I hold against my role model "Vathiyar" that he has not written a Harry Potter or Lord of Rings or Ponniyin Selvan but perhaps he did not SET OUT to write such classics.

This novel is good it is only about 80 pages so it would not even last 30 minutes or so. So just read it.

[Balaji M]

"காயத்ரி" - சுஜாதா

1970களில் தினமணி கதிர்'ல் வெளிவந்த இந்நாவல் தொடர், திரைப்படமாக கருப்பு வெள்ளையில் 1977ல் வெளிவந்தது. கதைக்கரு வில்லங்கமானது என ஒருவாறு அறிந்த அளவில்தான், வாசிக்க தொடங்கினோம். வாசித்து முடித்தபின், சற்றே மலைபோடுதான் எழமுடிகிறது. தற்காலத்துக்கும் பொருந்தி போகும் குற்றச்சம்பவத்தை கொண்ட கதைக்கரு.
ஒரு பணக்கார குடும்பத்தில் வாழ்க்கைப்படும் பெண் தனக்கு ஏற்படும் அமானுஷ்யத்தையும் அருவறுப்புகளையும் அந்த வீட்டில் உள்ள ஒவ்வொரு நபர்களின் மீது உள்ள சந்தேக பார்வையையும், அவளுடைய பார்வையின்வழி காட்டி, அவள் உணர்ந்ததை நமக்கு கடத்துகிற அளவுக்கு திரு சுஜாதா அவர்களின் எழுத்து உள்ளது.
அதாவது,
காயத்ரி எனும் அழகான பெண் திருமணம் நடந்து வாழ்க்கைப்பட்டு போகுமிடத்தில் கணவன் ராஜரத்தினம், ராஜரத்தினத்தின் அக்கா சரசு, சமையல்காரர் ஷாமா ஐயர், அவரின் பேத்தி இந்திரா.... இந்த நான்கு கதைமாந்தர்களை வைத்தே கிட்டத்தட்ட முழு நாவலும் சொல்லப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. காயத்ரிக்கு அந்த வீட்டில் என்ன பிரச்சனை? அந்த பிரச்சனைகளிலிருந்து அவள் விடுபட எப்படி முயற்சித்தாள்? யாரால் அவளுக்கு அந்த பிரச்னைகளிருந்து தீர்வு கிடைக்கிறது? என கடைசி சில அத்தியாயங்களில், கதையாசிரியர் சுஜாதாவின் ஆஸ்தான துப்பறிவாளர் இணையர்கள் கணேஷ்-வசந்த் இடம்பெற்று மர்ம புதிர்களை விடுவிக்கிறார்கள்.
அட்டகாசமான எழுத்துநடை. பரவலாக நாம் அனைவரும் இத்திரைப்படத்தை டிவியில் கண்டிருக்கமுடியாது., காரணம் 'அந்த' மாதிரியான கதை என்பதால். ஆக திரைப்படத்தை youtubeல் பார்க்கும் முன், இந்நாவலை வாசிப்பது நமது கற்பனை(காட்சி சிந்தனை) குதிரைக்கு நல்ல களமாக அமையும்.

[Prathika]

Yet another short read by author Sujata. The concept must have been a great shocker during the time it was written.
The plot revolves around an innocent, new wed young woman. The female protagonist's disability is all implicitly understood from the then very widely existing narrow mindedness of the society. Although the characters Ganesh and Vasanth appear only for a short time, the story us gripping enough. Surprisingly the part where Ganesh and Vasanth appear is a little lousy. Overall a good read.

Time and again Sujata's ability convert anything to a storyline amazes me.

[Velmurugan Moorthy]

A story with all those mysteries and twists. I was surprised to know the year of publishing(around 70's). By then, this kind of story would definitely be one of the first of it's type. The narrative is a killer one, needs no mention as it's by Sujatha sir 👌 The way the author handles the story, his narration, the core idea itself. Everything's mind blowing. 👌🙏 Finally an awesome mysterious fiction which is worth a read.

[Bhuvan]

page turner. I didn't like the end it was so cinematic.

[Kira]

Extraordinary narration 👏👏

[Siva Karthikeyan]

Excellent narration of story by Sujatha as usual. Interesting to know that this has been also come as a movie by Panju arunachalam.

[RKC]

One of the best thrilling novel, the life of Gayathri narrated in the diary showed up as a life saver from monster gang.

[Harivignesh]

This is my first Sujatha's work. I very much liked the narration of Sujatha. The flow of story is impressive with suspenses.

[Mohan]

இதை படித்ததும் ஏன் படமாக எடுத்தார்கள் என்று புரிந்தது.

Easy read book!

[Pradeep Venkatachalam]

Super

[Revathy Venkataramanan]

A short and intense read that kept me occupied throughout.

[Vino Kumar Ponnu Krishnan]

Suspense & thriller initially.
Once Ganesh and Vasant enter the scene becomes a dark comedy.

Very hard to imagine, if someone stuck in these situations.

5 more short stories also included along with Gayathri Novel

[Geeth]

EXCELLENT. MASTERSTROKE

I am reading this book after so many years, but had a same thrill like reading first time ever. Sujatha IS (never can be 'was') a unique masterpiece. In 1970, such a theme is unbelievable. Masterstroke. 50 years later today technology has quiet changed and still so many billions of 'Gayathris' and "Sarasu and co" around. Unfortunate too.

[Gowtham Mahalingam]

Gayathri - A spicy ride until the place where Ganesh- Vasanth arrives.

Loved the narrative style which is simply outstanding!!!

Once Ganesh-Vasanth arrives, a sequences turns into cliched Tamil cinema movies.

In Narrative Style, Sujatha is SUPER STAR

[Prasanna Venkataraman]

Story about how a girl who was locked in the house, used for illegal purpose escapes from there, said in Sujatha s own thriller style...

[Krishnakumar Tk]

Sujatha rocks as usual!

[Guru Guru]

ஒரு வீட்டுக்கு காயத்ரி மருமகளாக செல்கிறாள், அங்கு மர்மமாக பல விஷய்அம் நடக்கிறது, டைரி எழுதுகிறாள். மற்றபடி சுவாரசியமாக ஒன்றுமில்ல, கனேஷ்/வசந்த் கடைசியாக வருகிறார்கள். 70 பக்க குறு நாவல்.

[Karthik]

Gayathri is a book dealing with a rare problem faced by a woman in those olden times. Characterization is good. A good timepass book from the author.

[Dineshwaran]

Thrilling read. Sujatha is a master in story telling.